Chapter 2

Something was wrong. There was a soldier down the hall from the lab and they appeared to be lingering, far too alert for the regular patrol duties. Which meant that his viewing of Doctor Carson's research may have been discovered, and perhaps the hidden items as well.

He stepped carefully away from the corner and continued on what he hoped would appear to be a normal walk around the city on his way to visit his friends in this sector. In his mind he ran through the planned emergency procedure. He needed to make sure that the items, if they remained undiscovered, were hidden somewhere else, just in case. And the signal…he needed to disable it for now, for if they were to find it they may be able to discover that he was the one who had been checking it. Just one hair, fibre or fingerprint would be all they would need.

He passed an open doorway and heard those inside talking about the city's computers being checked and he knew his suspicion had been correct. He quickened his steps as soon as he was far enough away from anyone who may hear him. He broke into a run as soon as he felt safely alone, down the next corridor and into a transporter.

His breathing was fast and fearful, and he hated that weakness. If they were to find out…he had so much to lose and nowhere to run. No, if he could hide the evidence and stop the signal then they would not discover them.

He ran down a corridor through a mostly empty building along the quieter areas of the city's east pier. He regularly visited the pier for a walk or to run, so his presence here now would not be questioned if anyone were to see him. Two corners later and he crouched down to open the panel. He reached down into the chill of the empty space and his fingertips caught against the sealed box. He reached in with his other hand and pulled the box up into the light. It would be unwise to carry the box around so he would leave it here once it was emptied. He broke the seal and removed the two smaller containers from inside. He slid them into separate pockets of his jacket, and then returned the box and panel to their original place.

He stood quickly and hurried on with his 'run'. As he did he slipped one container out of his pocket and opened it to reveal the two vials inside. One could be used against anyone, but the other had been suggested for use against only specific members of the city, one in particular. He closed the container up and returned it to his pocket.

As he emerged into the light of the pier he glanced around, noting that he remained alone still – no one had seen him. He would turn back towards the city after a few minutes, to make it look good, and then he would head up the main tower to disable the signal. Then it would all be fine, for now. The city would no longer be traceable, but at least it would remain on Earth and not back in Pegasus. He could continue his mission in secret indefinitely and no one in the city would know any better. There were duties far too important. They were important. He was important.

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It had taken time just to isolate the upper area of the main tower as the source of the signal, but it still left a huge area. John had sent out as many as possible with scanners to track it down. The problem was that the signal remained so expertly mixed in with the normal background energy readings of the city. To help isolate it Rodney was shutting down the power of several levels at once, but it was still hard going. John would have loved to be able to shut all the power down in the city so that the alien signal would stand out even its tiniest amount, but he doubted his superiors would be pleased with the media interest that would follow when the city's cloak shut down. So instead it was this more old fashioned technique – hand scanners in the dark.

John was currently leaving the Jumper bay. Two teams covered this level, but it was a huge space and each Jumper had to be checked, so he was by himself when he opened one of the Jumper Bay exits. A long narrow corridor stretched out beyond it and he made his way down its length, glancing continuously at the Ancient life signs detector modified to track the target signal down.

He paused at the end of the corridor. The lights were on emergency level only to reduce the background energy readings, so the corridor was dark and more than a little creepy being so empty. Not many people used this and the upper levels above the Gate Room, which meant that he didn't know them all that well either. He had patrolled around them, but now in the near dark he tried desperately to remember the layout of this level. He was pretty sure that there was an atrium up ahead and as he turned in that direction the signal grew on his scanner. He edged forward, carefully moving the scanner making tiny corrections in his direction as he moved.

The atrium opened up around him and his footsteps echoed for a moment as he stopped in the entrance way. That was when his spidey sense spiked. Instinctively he moved out of the open space of the atrium and pressed himself against a wall within as much shadow as was available. He had pressed the screen of the scanner against his front to hide its light, and now risked pulling it back slightly to look at the screen. He wished it would still show life signs in this mode, but it was fixed on detecting the signal, but all of John's instincts told him someone was close by. It could be a member of the search team, but something deep inside John told him to be careful. Which meant it could very well be the bad guy here to switch off their signal. So John had to get there first.

He moved forward, sneaking looks at the scanner as he went. He was halfway down the wall of the atrium when the strength of the signal grew on the scanner, which meant he was almost on top of it.

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He held absolutely still, cursing to himself. His breathing sounded far too loud, but from the slight scuffing sound along the wall behind him he knew that the Colonel hadn't located him yet. How typical that it would be Colonel Sheppard of all people! And the man was moving towards the signal and would be upon it at any moment!

He had to act now and there was only one thing he could do. He carefully and quietly reached into his pocket and carefully opened the container. His fingers caught around the head of the vials. He wished he had separated the vials, but it was too late now.

The air changed nearby and he froze – the Colonel was so close, just around the corner to him. The signal device was across the open space from his hiding place, essentially between him and the Colonel. The tiniest glow appeared through the dark atrium told him the Colonel was consulting his scanner again. He was out of time.

He pulled both vials out of the container and lifted them up by his side. They were labelled with symbols and his fingers fortunately found them by touch alone. He was sure he had the right one and there was no time to second guess himself now. He tucked the other vial back into his pocket and held still listening. The vial was cool in his hand and he ran his thumb over it, making sure he held the dangerous end away from his body.

A shift of air, barely discernible told him that Colonel Sheppard was almost at the corner separating them…

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John held himself flush against the wall. He had found the source of the signal if the strength of the signal on the scanner was anything to go by. It was probably across the space from him, most likely hidden behind the arty sculpture that over looked the lower level of the atrium. He cursed himself, he should have called for back up, but by doing that now he would reveal himself to whoever was nearby and clearly not a friendly. If he went for the source of the signal now he would be a target, he would have to find this person first and deal with them.

John edged along the wall a little further. He could see the vague outline of the opening to another corridor a few feet ahead of him. He lifted his sidearm carefully from his thigh and released the safety as quietly as he could, but the click seemed far too loud in the still darkness.

Something moved out from the shadows next to him and John turned towards it, weapon lifted.

"Colonel Sheppard?" A familiar voice asked sounding frightened as they threw their arms up and out. John began to pull back, his finger edging away from the trigger before his higher brain function kicked in and analysed why the hell 'he' would be here. That split second of indecision was all the bastard needed.

John saw the fist coming at his head just in time and ducked aside and he lashed out with the butt of his weapon, knowing a kill shot would not be the best thing here. But his target dropped down and away. A boot kicked into John's knee, but he kept his balance and stayed upright as the man rammed at him hoping to knock John to the floor. John got one elbow between them and was about to slam down the butt of his sidearm on the back of guy's head to knock him out, but something sharp and painful pierced through his back.

John drew in a startled breath, refocusing on defending himself, but suddenly the world was rocking around him. He hit the floor without being aware of falling and the cold of the Ancient floor was a sharp burst of feeling through the numbness that had passed throughout his body, but then on the edges of the cold a new fiery pain burst out from his back. He opened his mouth to cry out, but nothing happened but the violent shudder that shook his body and as suddenly as it had all begun the darkness poured in to claim him.

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Panting and panicked he stepped away from the still form of the Colonel. How much noise had that all made?

He turned and rushed the small distance to the place where the signal device was concealed. He had enough focus to push the empty vial into his pocket and pull on his gloves, though his hands were shaking with adrenaline. Gloved he reached through the twisted metallic sculpture and caught the edges of the device where it was fixed against the wall behind. He pulled roughly and it came away far easier than he had expected causing him to stumble back, but he remained on his feet. He turned it in his hands and found the simple switch. He hadn't been aware of the extra green glow from the scanner where it had fallen on the floor from the Colonel's hand, but the faint green light died away now, indicating that he had indeed shut down the signal. All he needed to do was escape from this area without anyone else seeing him and to dispose of the signal device.

He hid it under his jacket and walked smartly away through the atrium, trying to appear relaxed. He descended the stairs quickly, pausing once when he heard voices on the next level, but they passed and he moved on. He kept descending stairs until he reached the more populated areas of the city and he headed off in a random direction. He would walk around for awhile, just in case they had seen him on the life signs scans, but he made sure to walk close to as many groups of people as possible. Only then did he head somewhere more private where he could once again conceal these items.

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Rodney looked from one screen to the other - as usual working to do more than one thing at once. Radek was at the next station doing the same, so between them they were working four scans at once.

Something bleeped and Rodney turned to his laptop to see the display of the signal had changed. He forgot the screens and turned to the laptop.

"What is it?" Radek asked moving closer as Rodney leant over the laptop. The teams had been working on tracking the signal down for hours, but now something had changed.

"It's gone. The signal."

"Did they find it?" Radek was asking unhelpfully as Rodney activated the radio.

"This is Rodney, did someone find the target?"

A chorus of denials returned to him and then various chatter between the space marines, until Lorne's voice cut through the rest. "Where's Colonel Sheppard? Has anyone seen the Colonel?"

"He's on this level, Sir. He should be down the corridor," someone replied and from the sound of their voice they were hurrying to check.

"Doctor McKay?" Lorne's voice demanded.

"Yes? What?" Rodney asked, feeling more than a little worried that John wasn't responding to calls.

Lorne's answer never came through because suddenly the former voice was calling over the radio. "We have a man down, repeat a man down. We need a medical team to the Jumper bay level, in the atrium."

"What's happened?" Rodney asked over the radio as Lorne did the same.

"It's Colonel Sheppard, he's down. His pulse is weak and rapid. There's no sign of any injury…" various other reports passed over the radio, but Rodney stood frozen as he listened to them until the soft tone of Jennifer's voice joined the others.

Rodney broke out of his tense trance and turned to Radek. "Keep working, I'll be in the Infirmary."

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TBC